Top-secret documents reveal that the National Security Agency is dramatically expanding its ability to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process.

The classified files – provided previously by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden – contain new details about groundbreaking surveillance technology the agency has developed to infect potentially millions of computers worldwide with malware “implants.” The clandestine initiative enables the NSA to break into targeted computers and to siphon out data from foreign Internet and phone networks.

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You don't need to be a genius to debug a pf.conf firewall ruleset, you just need the guts to run tcpdump

I was just thinking, what if all of this this was some kind of elaborate scare tactic designed to keep us all doing the right thing? I don't actually believe that, but I wish I did. Part of me says that the meta data being collected is just going into some file server farms to never be looked at, but I know they would probably pull up a huge file of internet sins on anyone they want to go after. I think it's all going to far and the media ignore it all or give it so little coverage that the people don't even care.

This also makes me think, how are they going to store all this info for more than 300 million Americans and god knows how many non Americans, how much are they actually collecting and how long will they keep it stored? Thats a lot of real estate and a lot of TBs of info per person right?

The known facts so far all tend to show that they are intercepting all kinds of communication, keeping everything for long-term storage and connecting everything and everyone into some sort of huge "social network".

Why do you think that's "a lot"? Is the problem a financial one? The Black Budget is ever increasing and the taxpayer is generous. Is the problem a technical one? There is a worldwide overabundance of technological resources and technical performance is increasing by the day.

PRISM is just an extension/upgrade to good ol' ECHELON.

Considering what some companies have been doing for decades with their customers and potential customers, it's quite easy to imagine what intelligence agencies are doing right now with the local populations, enemies and perceived enemies.

I am not talking about now or even in 5 years. I mean do we know how long they will keep this specific data? 50 years of digital info for nearly half a million people has to go somewhere right. I understand that it can be compressed and put to newer better mediums but I think the logistics behind the whole thing has got to be a pain in the ass for someone. I mean if they get info for every single site I visit and every cellphone call I make, every post I type, and every email I send for 20 years multiplied by 300,000,000+ people. It's ridiculous considering at best they might get lucky and discover a "terror cell" out of Florida or a shoe bomber on his way to the airport. I just wanna slap the guys running things. I think that "terrorism" is an overblown, largely ficticious enemy that is equivalent to Emanuel Goldstein in 1984 but I have been known for not being too smart so, whatever.

50 years is probably too much. Too many stuff happen in 50 years, many people die and/or become insignificant in the grand scheme of things, many new companies are created, many others go under, many governments are changed radically, new states are created, alliances are made and broken, etc.
The gathered info is simply useless after some time. I'd say keeping this kind of data for 5 or 10 years is more useful and technically easier to achieve.

I also doubt the entire thing has much to do with the war on terror. This is all speculation, but I bet anti-terrorism is the smallest part of this. Think of all the potential uses, anything from local anti-corruption to industrial espionage abroad.